Official: Russia To Expand Kyrgyzstan Military Airbase

Russia will expand its airbase in Kyrgyzstan at the end of the year ahead of the shutdown of a US base in the country, a senior commander said Saturday.

The number of planes at Russia’s Kant airbase in the country “will at least double by this December,” Viktor Sevastyanov, a senior Russian air force commander, said at a ceremony marking the base’s 10-year anniversary.

Russia will also send in more pilots, he said in televised remarks.

The Kant airbase last year was a source of disagreement between Kyrgyzstan and Russia, which is competing for influence in the region with the United States, whose lease at its Manas base expires in July.

Last year Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev complained that the Russian base was not benefiting Kyrgyzstan and instead owed Bishkek $15 million (€11 million) in back rent.

However in September Russia and Kyrgyzstan signed an agreement allowing Moscow to continue operations at Kant until 2032 in exchange for Moscow’s writing off nearly half a billion dollars in debt owed by the Central Asian country.

The base, located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Bishkek, currently has 10 Sukhoi fighters, two Mi-8 helicopters, and about a dozen other transport and training airplanes. It is Russia’s only airbase in Central Asia.

The United States is meanwhile planning to pull its flight operations from the Manas base ahead of the expiration of its lease, and use an alternative airbase in Romania as a transit point for troops leaving Afghanistan.

Taranis makes maiden flight

The BAE Systems Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator has made its maiden flight and is currently conducting initial flight trials, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to on 25 October.

"Flight trials [on Taranis] are currently ongoing," an MoD spokesperson told .

Artists representation

Neither the MoD nor BAE Systems was able to confirm the date of the maiden flight at this stage. However, a full statement by the MoD will be issued when the Taranis flight trial programme has been completed, the spokesperson said.

Flights are understood to be ongoing at the Royal Australian Air Force's Woomera Testing Range in South Australia. The United Kingdom has used the site extensively in the past to test new military equipment, including the Mantis unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in 2009.

Meanwhile, in evidence to the UK Parliament's Defence Select Committee, the MoD separately confirmed on 25 October that "Taranis ground tests commenced in 2010 and flight trials took place in 2013".

The spokesperson said this was partially incorrect as it implied flight trials had been completed rather than currently in progress, as is the case.

A BAE Systems spokesperson told that they were unable to add anything at this point beyond the MoD's confirmation. The United Kingdom is highly secretive about the Taranis UCAV, which is known to have been seen in public on only two occasions.

BAE Systems has previously commented , "We expect the first flight trials to take place in 2013. Testing on this system requires a very different approach and testing regime from traditional manned platforms. The system will be comprehensively and extensively 'flown' on the ground for many hours. This thorough and robust testing activity is the major stepping stone needed to ensure that the system progresses into its flight testing phase in a safe and low-risk manner."

The first flight of Taranis follows on from the maiden flight of the pan-European Neuron UCAV technology demonstrator on 1 December 2012 and extensive carrier-based testing of the Northrop Grumman X-47B in 2013.

Taranis is not intended to enter production, but is instead a technology demonstrator vehicle (TDV). According to the MoD evidence to Parliament, "It will provide the MoD with experimental evidence on the potential capabilities, helping to inform decisions on the future mix of manned and remotely piloted systems."

Japan's PM Warns China On Use Of Force As Jets Scrambled

Japan’s leader warned China on Sunday against forcibly changing the regional balance of power, as reports said Tokyo had scrambled fighter jets in response to Chinese military aircraft flying near Okinawa.

Verbal skirmishing between Asia’s two biggest economies, who dispute ownership of an island chain, escalated as Beijing warned Tokyo that any hostile action in the skies against Chinese drones would be construed as an “act of war.”

“We will express our intention as a state not to tolerate a change in the status quo by force. We must conduct all sorts of activities such as surveillance and intelligence for that purpose,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in an address to the military.

“The security environment surrounding Japan is becoming increasingly severe. This is the reality,” he said. “You will have to completely rid yourselves of the conventional notion that just the existence of a defense force could act as a deterrent.”

Abe presided over an inspection of the military at which a US amphibious assault vehicle was displayed for the first time, an apparent sign of Japan’s intention to strengthen its ability to protect remote islands.

The defense ministry plans to create a special amphibious unit to protect the southern islands and retake them in case of an invasion.

“There are concerns that China is attempting to change the status quo by force, rather than by rule of law,” Abe earlier told the Wall Street Journal in an interview following a series of summits this month with regional leaders.

“But if China opts to take that path, then it won’t be able to emerge peacefully,” he said in the interview published Saturday.

“So it shouldn’t take that path, and many nations expect Japan to strongly express that view. And they hope that as a result, China will take responsible action in the international community,” Abe added.

Kyodo News reported that Japan scrambled jets Sunday for the third successive day in response to four Chinese military aircraft flying over international waters near the Okinawa island chain.

Two Y8 early-warning aircraft and two H6 bombers flew from the East China Sea to the Pacific Ocean and back again but did not violate Japan’s airspace, it said.

The Japanese defense ministry was not immediately available for confirmation.

Japan’s military is on increased alert as Tokyo and Beijing pursue a war of words over the disputed islands in the East China Sea that lie between Okinawa and Taiwan.

On Saturday China responded angrily after a report said Japan had drafted plans to shoot down foreign drones that encroach on its airspace if warnings to leave are ignored.

S. Korea Envisions Light Aircraft Carrier

The South Korean Navy believes it can deploy two light aircraft carriers by 2036 and expand its blue-water force to cope with the rapid naval buildups of China and Japan, according to a Navy source.

The service has been exploring ways of securing light aircraft carriers based on an interim feasibility study, the source said.

“It’s a hope,” the Navy source said on condition of anonymity. “There are no fixed requirements at the moment, but we’ve been studying ways of launching light aircraft carriers over the next two decades.”

Rep. Chung Hee-soo of the ruling Saenuri Party revealed the contents of a program in a feasibility report last week.

“To cope with potential maritime disputes with neighboring countries, we need to secure aircraft carriers as soon as possible,” Chung, a member of the National Assembly’s Defense Committee, said during a confirmation hearing Oct. 11 for Adm. Choi Yoon-hee, new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “For more active international peacekeeping operations, our Navy should have carriers.”

According to Chung, the Navy envisions three phases:

■The first is to equip the second ship of the Dokdo-class landing platform helicopter ship (LPH) with a ski ramp to operate short-range or vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.

The flight surface of the landing ship is already sprayed with urethane, which can withstand the heat created by the aircraft during operations.

Dokdo, with the addition of a ski ramp, could be deployed before 2019,according to the report, which suggests the Navy procure used VTOL jets from the US, UK and Spain if needed.

■Second, the Navy could build an amphibious assault ship, similar to the Spanish Navy’s Juan Carlos, before 2019.

■Finally, the service aims to build two 30,000-ton light aircraft carriers between 2028 and 2036, the report said. The carrier is to have specifications similar to the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour, which can support about 30 aircraft.

“We should have capabilities to deter North Korea, and at the same time, we need minimal capabilities to respond to potential threats from neighboring countries,” Choi replied to Chung, apparently referring to the naval buildups of China and Japan.

China commissioned its first aircraft carrier last year, with three more carriers planned. Japan, whose Navy is classed as a self-defense force, has controversially unveiled a 20,000-ton helicopter destroyer akin to a small aircraft carrier.

More Aegis Ships and Jets

term procurement plans to further strengthen its naval power.

The service plans to commission three more 7,600-ton KDX-III Aegis destroyers by 2023 to develop a strategic mobile fleet. The service has three KDX-III destroyers fitted with Lockheed Martin-built SPY-1D radar capable of tracking incoming ballistic missiles and enemy aircraft.

“The construction of new Aegis ships could be completed earlier than scheduled,” Adm. Hwang Gi-chul, chief of naval operations, testified. “And the new Aegis ships will have better stealth functions than those with the existing ships.”

The Navy will also launch six, 5,900-ton next-generation destroyers — dubbed KDDX — after 2023.

The development of an attack submarine is on track, according to the Navy. The service plans to commission six more 1,800-ton Type 214 submarines to bring the 214 fleet to nine subs by 2023. After that, it will deploy nine, 3,000-ton heavy attack submarines codenamed KSS-III. The KSS-III is to be equipped with a vertical launch tube to fire a 1,500-kilometer cruise missile that can hit key targets in North Korea.

Other procurement plans include the FFX program to build a dozen new frigates with advanced sensors and a wide variety of weaponry. The FFX program is intended to replace the aging fleet of existing Ulsan class frigates and Pohang class corvettes with multimission frigates.

The 2,300- to 3,000-ton FFX vessels are to be built in two batches with an objective of putting up to 24 ships into service by 2026.

The Navy also puts a priority on acquiring reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft. In particular, the service laid out plans to buy the Lockheed S-3 Vikings retired from front-fleet service aboard aircraft carriers by the US Navy in January 2009.

India Extends Relations With China, Russia

NEW DELHI — India has made small but steady progress improving political and defense relations with China and Russia, signing a border cooperation agreement with Beijing and agreeing with Moscow to purchase another nuclear sub.

Still, the border issue with China has not been solved and a joint combat fighter effort with Russia remains unsettled.

India and China, on Oct. 22, inked the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing, establishing a formal mechanism to improve security along their 4,056-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC), which is the disputed border between the countries.

The four-page BDCA was signed by Indian Defence Secretary R.K. Mathur and Lt. Gen. Sun Jianguo, Chinese People’s Liberation Army deputy chief of General Staff. The agreement is the fourth confidence-building agreement signed by the countries since 1993, an Indian Defence Ministry official said.

Despite the BDCA, no final agreement appears to be in the offing on the border dispute between India and China over which the two countries fought a brief battle in 1962, said an Indian Army official. China claims 92,000 square kilometers of Indian territory and the border between India and China is currently defined by the LAC, which is neither marked on the ground nor on mutually accepted maps.

“Given the enormous complex nature of geography, history and politics of their border dispute, it is not likely to be solved; it will gradually become less interesting and exciting for both sides. ... Boundaries will become gradually less important and get marginalized,” said Swaran Singh, professor for diplomacy and disarmament at Jawahar Lal Nehru University.

The Army official said the BDCA would help improve understanding between the armies stationed along the border because there will be regular meetings at a senior officer level. Border personnel will meet at designated positions along the LAC, and there will be periodic meetings between officials of the defense ministries, an Indian Defence Ministry official said.

The two countries are trying to reduce tensions along their borders, which has been exacerbated by frequent incursions by China, said the Army official. In April, troops of the two countries came face to face for 21 days in the Ladakh region of the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, where Chinese soldiers planted tents inside Indian territory.

New Delhi and Beijing have kept a low-key diplomatic stance regarding these incursions to avoid a confrontation.

India and China held several discussions on the BDCA beginning in January, but after the incursion by Chinese troops in the Ladakh region, the pace of negotiations quickened. During Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s visit to China in July, the two sides agreed to quickly conclude negotiations.

While no Indian official or analyst is optimistic of an early settlement of the boundary dispute, there is unanimity that India needs to be concerned about Chinese military modernization and its growing footprint in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

“Attempts to find a resolution of the boundary dispute between India and China should be combined with military capacity building and defense preparedness by India,” said defense analyst Nitin Mehta.

Russian Naval Deal

Meanwhile, Singh and Russian President Vladmir Putin did not sign any new defense pact during their Oct. 20-22 meeting in Moscow, but Indian Defence Ministry sources said an agreement was reached to acquire another nuclear submarine.

The Foundation Day. 2nd Guards Infantry Brigade 39th anniversary.

Gen. Prayudh Monday delectable army commander. Presided over merit. The Foundation Day.2nd Guards Infantry Brigade, the 39th anniversary of this occasion has given scholarships to child soldiers.Then go to the Buddhist temple, Beach City lean Pl.r. 2 wait and visit the military. And the opening of the building to help train thousands R. 2 0.3 inactive.

China Start Development OF Long-Range Stealth Bomber

Senior colonel Wu Guohui of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has confirmed  that China has started designing and development of a long-range stealth bomber with similar capabilities to the PAK-DA and B-2 of the United States Air Force.

When the PLAAF was founded in 1949, few resources were spent on the development of long-range bombers as Mao Zedong believed that ground forces were much more important for China to defeat foreign invaders. In the era of the Korean War and Taiwan Strait Crisis, the PLAAF was initially established as a tactical air force to support the army in combat against the United Nations forces and the Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang) government. The modern PLAAF only began to take shape after Deng Xiaoping came to power in the late 1970s after Mao's death.

 Chinese long-range stealth bomber

Wu said that a long-range stealth bomber is able to launch more than one missile during an aerial engagement because it cannot be detected by enemy radar, and that is why the US is willing to spend US$1.2 billion on 80 to 100 second-generation stealth bombers. Realizing that the United States is also developing a second-generation stealth bomber based on the B-2 stealth jet, Wu said that it is now time for China to seek a replacement for its Cold War-era H-6 strategic bomber.

Both the United States and Russia are developing new bombers and China will certainly have its stealth bomber too, Wu said. China's ambition to build a stealth bomber was first reported by John Reed, a US military analyst, in an article written for Foreign Policy magazine in June. Citing aircraft models displayed on the Chinese website, Reed stated that Beijing would usually demonstrate small-scale models before constructing the real aircraft.

Meanwhile, Vasiliy Kashin, an Russian analyst from the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies told the the Moscow-based Voice of Russia that the new Chinese stealth bomber must be able to launch an attack against targets within North America if it really wants to pose a national security threat to the United States.

Some analyst have questioned China's ability to design its own stealth bomber, however. An source said that no other country in the world except the United States has the proper experience in developing a stealth bomber. Even countries like Russia with advanced aviation industries are limited to the design of wind tunnels for the stealth bomber. The source added that China cannot even design the engine for its J-20 fifth generation stealth fighter, and must rely on Saturn AL-31 engines from Russia through the purchase of Su-35 fighters.

Afghan Agreement Likely Despite Last Minute Wrangling

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WASHINGTON — Recent history with status of forces agreements (SOFA) — the deals that provide the legal framework for US troops to be on the ground after the creation of a new government — between the US and “liberated” countries, isn’t so rosy. In 2008, the US abruptly pulled out of Iraq, several weeks before the official end to its existing agreement, because of an inability to come to terms on a new deal.

But current and former administration officials say that’s unlikely to happen again, in this case as the US tries to negotiate a military presence beyond 2014 in Afghanistan. On Oct. 12., Secretary of State John Kerry announced that he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai were closing in on a deal that would allow for continued counterterrorism operations by joint US/Afghan forces into 2015.

Still, many of the details of the deal are being hammered out, and the final deal will have to go before a tribal council known as the Loya Jirga before it can become official.

The primary issues holding up the deal will be familiar to anyone who monitored the Iraq negotiations: jurisdiction for prosecution of US forces by Afghan courts, permission to execute operations against terrorism-related targets, and protection for Afghanistan from its neighbor Pakistan in the event of dispute.

Pakistan Ground Transit Routes Up and Running

WASHINGTON — NATO cargo and supply shipments to and from Afghanistan through Pakistan are flowing at about the rate they were before Islamabad blocked US access to the roads in November 2011, according to a senior US military official.

Still, the introduction of new tasks and procedures not needed before the routes were closed have taken time to institute, according to US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), the Defense Department organization that oversees global military cargo and equipment movement.

“We are almost back to normal levels for Pakistan,” said Lt. Gen. Kathleen Gainey, TRANSCOM deputy commander. “There are some different processes that we’re using, different security, different customs documentation, different review and screening requirement of excess cargo that’s exiting [the] country, etc.”

Pakistan closed the ground routes after a US airstrike mistakenly killed 24 of its soldiers. The only other access to landlocked Afghanistan is through the Northern Distribution Network, a series of roads through Russia and Central Asia.

Supplies traverse the Northern Distribution Network by truck, rail and ship. On the Pakistan route, trucks drive between Afghanistan and a seaport in Karachi.

Routing supplies through the Northern Distribution Network takes two to three times as long as through Pakistan, depending on the item.

The northern route also takes longer because items must go through as many as five customs inspections along the way.

There are certain weapons, such as tanks and ammunition, that must be airlifted in and out of Afghanistan.

Closing the Pakistan ground roads cost the US more than $2 billion in shipping.

Even though the US struck a deal in July 2011 to use the Pakistan route until 2015, the institution of the new procedures has taken time, US officials say.

“It’s not as simple as it was before,” Gainey said.

Since the Pakistan route opened, the US is relying less on the Northern Distribution Network.

“We’re continuing to use the Northern Distribution Network, [but] not at the volume we had been,” Gainey said. “We are continuing to use it because you’ve got to keep some lanes warm as a result of needing to possibly go back to that. So there isn’t much going through there now, but there is still some and we’re trying to make sure that that is spread out on all of the routes.”

US combat operations are expected to wrap up at the end of 2014. US and Afghan officials are negotiating what type of residual force might remain in the country after that time. The Pentagon is planning how to move approximately $36 billion worth of US military equipment out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, including 28,000 vehicles and trailers, according to a September report by the Congressional Research Service.

It is expected to cost $5 billion to $7 billion to move equipment out of the landlocked country, Gainey said. That estimate could decline if the Pakistan ground roads remain open, depending on how much equipment the US leaves behind.

“But you know that that can change at anytime,” Gainey said. “We’re continuing to triage the volume of equipment to be either shipped back, transferred to the Afghans or destroyed in place there in country.”

Navistar Defense MaxxPro MCOTM armored and Special Operations Tactical Vehicle at AUSA 2013.

Navistar Defense, LLC invites you to visit booth # 6919, on the upper level between Halls D&E at the AUSA Annual Meeting, in Washington, D.C., to view the MaxxPro® Mission Command On The Move (MCOTM) vehicle as well as armored and unarmored variants of the company’s Special Operations Tactical Vehicle (SOTV).

Turkish soldiers exchange fire with Islamist militants on the border with Syria

The Turkish army announced Wednesday, October 16, 2013, that it exchanged fire with militants from Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) that is linked to al-Qaida in the Kilis province on the border with Syria, local Today's Zaman reported.

Russian Army Special Forces test new thermal sight for Future Combat Soldier Equipment Ratnik.

The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (CVN R91) left Toulon naval base on October 16 with its full crew and airwing onboard (Rafale, Super-Etendard Modernisé, Hawkeye, Dauphin helicopter). The training will focus mainly on the validation of pilot skills in two consecutive phases.
The first phase, commonly called "École de l’Aviation Embarquée" (Carrier-borne Aviation School), will qualify rookie French naval aviation pilots for day and night carrier operations. For some of those young pilots this will be their first landing on the deck of Charles de Gaulle CVN.

The second phase will consist in training newly qualified pilots as well as veteran pilots in the conduct of operational missions from the aircraft carrier.

Indian military very fast growing military and indian military must move fast

At a seminar held in New Delhi recently to mark the 10th anniversary of the Arun Singh committee on the management of defence, Chief of Air Staff P V Naik reignited the chief of defence staff (CDS) controversy when he claimed that it was not needed.

His claims notwithstanding, there are significant problems in tactical interoperability , defence planning and overall coordination that suggest otherwise. The defence reforms process, initiated over a decade ago, has largely failed to deliver.

Significantly, however, the Arun Singh committee itself was flawed in its approach. Hence, instead of contradicting the Kargil review committee, Naik would do better to focus on the need for the next generation of defence reforms.

That the services lack the capability to operate seamlessly has been proven time and again in operations. During the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, the army used to embed its radio detachments with naval ships and air force attack helicopters to enable communication links.

Among the few instances where the army requested naval gunfire support, the navy engaged targets two kilometres away! More recently, during the Kargil war in 1999, air force jets did not have the capability to communicate with troops operating on the front. In fact, the air force did not have secure, encrypted communication capability (and still does not) in some of its planes, forcing them to fly in radio silence - a characteristic of the WW II era.

Similarly, intelligence gathering and analysis has been one of our weakest links. There are reports that in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, while the air force was prepared to carry out surgical raids, it was hampered by a lack of accurate intelligence on the location of terror facilities in Pakistan.

It was to obviate some of these weaknesses, recognised during the Kargil war, that the Arun Singh committee was formed. It comprised 11 people with varying backgrounds and experience. In carrying out its mandate, the committee deliberated over testimonies from different stakeholders.

However, it did not examine the files that obviously illuminate the functioning of different organisations . Hence, its analysis was more opinion based than data driven. For instance, when it argued that "the COSC [Chiefs of Staff Committee] has not been effective in fulfilling its mandate" , it did not provide any evidence for this claim.

An examination of the files of the COSC would have been more helpful in identifying the structural problem, which probably is the difficulty in making controversial decisions in a consensus-based committee. As a result, the Arun Singh committee's recommendation was simplistic - appointment of a CDS. For historical and bureaucratic reasons, this measure was not approved.

As an illustrative example, the Arun Singh committee can be imagined as a group of car mechanics who attempted to fix the vehicle based on their opinions of what was wrong without once opening the hood. But this in itself should not be surprising, for a similar methodology was adopted by subsequent reform committees like the Kelkar committee, the Defence Expenditure Review committee and so on. 

Syrian Intelligence Officer Is Killed

BEIRUT, Lebanon — One of the Syrian government’s most prominent intelligence officers, Maj. Gen. Jamea Jamea, was killed during fighting in the eastern provincial capital of Deir al-Zour, Syrian rebels and the state news media said on Friday as government warplanes bombed the city after several days of fierce clashes.

General Jamea, killed Thursday, is the most senior security figure confirmed dead in more than a year. He was respected in Syria’s powerful inner circles of intelligence and military leaders after a long career as a Syrian strongman in Lebanon and most recently for “doing a good job” against the uprising at home, according to a Syrian in contact with senior security figures. 

 The European Union appeared to have a similar view of his importance, if a different response. In August 2011, it placed sanctions on General Jamea, freezing his assets and denying him a visa for travel in the European Union, for his role in “repression and violence against the civilian population.”

That such a notable figure was still commanding operations in Deir al-Zour suggested that President Bashar al-Assad was still committing important resources to checking rebel advances in remote, rebellious eastern Syria. And this was despite the views of many pro- and antigovernment analysts that the Syrian government had written off any hope of regaining full control of the area.

The general was considered a formidable and notorious enemy not only by Syrian rebels but also by opponents of the Syrian government in Lebanon, where he served during Syria’s occupation and was accused by some of playing a role in the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. 

According to varying reports, the general was killed either by a sniper’s bullet or in an explosion during an ambush. His death helped rebels recapture some optimism after the fading of their hopes for American military intervention and the eruption of infighting with jihadist groups.

“He is a regime symbol,” said Ragheb Bashir Tomeh, a member of the rebel Supreme Military Council.

India Plans Robots To Replace Soldiers

NEW DELHI — Indian scientists are in the process of developing robots to replace human soldiers in the near future as part of the country’s unmanned warfare system.
A new research facility has been set up by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and BEML Ltd., the state-run heavy engineering and defense equipment major, in Avadi, a suburb of Chennai in south India, to make robot soldiers and cargo-transporting robots for the country’s army.

“Whatever a soldier will do in warfare, a robot soldier should be able to do. If the human is doing a search in warfare, the robot soldier will also do that. If a human is doing firefighting, the robot soldier will do that,” says V.K. Saraswat, DRDO’s director general and scientific adviser to India’s defense minister. “The DRDO is working on the project to have robot soldiers by 2020 or 2030,” he says.
The robot soldiers will be able to perform duties including carrying loads of ammunition and payloads for mine detection and surveillance. Saraswat says they can be controlled from remote locations, which would help the country’s armed forces by not having to deploy people in areas which are difficult to access. “Such a robot needs a database and artificial intelligence to carry out its activities,” Saraswat says. “A lot of effort and coordination among various agencies in the defense sector [will be] needed to develop these robots.”

The new robot soldiers are likely to replace at least some of India’s 100,000 soldiers.
In a separate project, DRDO is planning to design robotic mules that can replace the animals used by Indian soldiers to carry heavy loads in mountainous terrain.

Indian Navy inducts Frigate INS Tarkash

INS Tarkash, the second of the three stealth Frigates constructed at Yantar Shipyard, Kaliningrad Russia, has been commissioned and inducted into the Indian Navy by Vice Admiral Shekhar Kumar Sinha, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command on 09 November 2012 at Kaliningrad, Russia. The array of weapons and sensors onboard the ship include the supersonic Brahmos missile system, advanced Surface to Air missile system, upgraded 100mm medium range gun, optically controlled 30 mm Close-in Weapon System, Torpedoes, Rocket Launchers and advanced Electronic Warfare/Communication suite. The ship is commanded by Captain Antony George, an ‘Anti Submarine Warfare’ specialist. The ship will join the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy by December end, this year.

Indian Navy : After successful launch, K-15 missile ready to join Arihant nuclear submarine

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) ends 2012 on an upbeat note, successfully launching the underwater missile K-15 off the Visakhapatnam coast on Wednesday. The missile darted 20 km into the air, after a gas generator ejected it from the pontoon that lay submerged a few scores of metres in the Bay of Bengal, and sped 650 km before splashing into the sea in its 11th flight trial. 

After one more flight, the two-stage missile will be integrated with Arihant, India’s nuclear-powered submarine, and test-fired from the ship. “It is a fantastic system. It is a very powerful and accurate system,” said A.K. Chakrabarti, Programme Director, K-15, and Director of the Hyderabad-based Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), which designed and developed the missile.

“India is the fifth country to have an underwater launch system. The other countries are the U.S., Russia, France and China,” he said. 

Avinash Chander, Chief Controller (Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO, termed it “a good flight” and said the test “formed part of the pre-production clearance.” Twelve K-15 missiles, each 10 metres long and weighing six tonnes and capable of carrying nuclear warheads, will form part of the deadly arsenal of Arihant, which is powered by an 80-MWt reactor that uses enriched uranium as fuel and light water as coolant and moderator. 

Informed sources said the reactor had already been integrated with the Arihant at Visakhapatnam. “The commissioning process is on,” they said. The reactor would reach criticality within the first few months of 2013. The harbour trials of the ship have been completed, and it is ready for sea trials.

India has been developing the K-4 missile, to be launched from submarines. It will be more powerful than K-15, with a range of 3,000 km.

Aircraft Carrier Vikramaditya To Join Indian Navy In November

With all trials successfully completed in the White Sea and Barents Sea, the Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov) aircraft carrier will be commissioned into Indian Navy service between November 15-20 at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, Russia.

Turkey FD-2000 Defense Missile Deal IS A Victory For China

NATO has expressed serious concern over Turkey's decision to purchase the FD-2000 Missile Defense System from China — the export version of China's HQ-9 surface-to-air missile — from a Chinese firm, citing that the system would not be compatible with those of Turkey's other NATO allies. However, the sale symbolizes a victory for China's defense industry even if it does not go through, reported by the International Media Organizations.

NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen requested Turkey to reconsider the purchase of the FD-2000  saying he expects Turkey to choose a system that is compatible with those of other allies. Some observers claim that the US and NATO are in fact  seriously concerned over the deal because China may be able to steal critical information if the FD-2000 is able to be connected with the US-built Patriot air defense missiles deployed to the Turkish border with Syria.

FD-2000 Air Defense Missile System

Others believe that whether of not Turkey will halt the US$3.4 billion missile defense deal and comply to the NATO request, it still marks a victory for Chinese defense industry. The Chinese weapons system was chosen above the US Patriot system, Russia's S-300 and the European Aster 30. Meanwhile, the FD-2000 is expected to become a popular choice for developing nations which are not NATO members with its cheaper price and technology transfer. The Chinese defense industry will now be able to use the indirect support of NATO member Turkey to expand into the overseas market the International Media Organizations said.

Oliver Brauner, a researcher on China's arms exports from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute told Reuters that the sale of the FD-2000 to Turkey will certainly become a landmark deal if it goes ahead.

Professor Zhang Zhaozhong from the PLA National Defense University in Beijing echoed this view, saying it is an important deal for both China and Turkey, and the sale may open the door for China to sell J-10 fighters to other NATO nations and US allies like (Pakistan) in future.